| Motto | Dieu et mon droit |
|---|---|
| Established | 1573 |
| Type | Selective academy |
| Headteacher | Mr N. Enright |
| Specialisms | Music, Training |
| Location | Queen's Road Barnet Greater London EN5 4DQ England |
| Local authority | Barnet |
| DfE number | 302/5401 |
| DfE URN | 136290 |
| Students | 1185 (2010) |
| Gender | Boys |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Broughton Harrisons Leicester Pearce Stapylton Underne |
| Colours |
Navy blue and pale blue |
| Former pupils | Old Elizabethans |
| Website | www.qebarnet.co.uk |
Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet (known as QE Boys) is a boys' grammar school in Barnet, North London, which was founded in 1573 by Edward Underne, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and others, in the name of Queen Elizabeth I..
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It has a specialist status in Music[1] and also from April 2009 as a Training School [2] It is one of the most academically successful secondary schools in England and was chosen as The Sunday Times State School of the Year 2007.[3][4][5] The school was the subject of some controversy in the 1990s,[6] but an Ofsted report published in January 2008 stated: "It is held in very high regard by the vast majority of students and their parents, and rightly so."[7][8]
The school was founded in 1573 by Queen Elizabeth I, petitioned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and assisted by local alderman Edward Underne.[9] Elizabeth I's charter of 1573 describes the school's purpose thus:
"a grammar school which shall be called The Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth for the education, bringing up and instruction of boys and youth, to be brought up in grammar and other learning, and the same to continue for ever, and the said School for one Master and one Usher for ever to continue and remain and that there shall be for ever four-and-twenty discreet, honest governors of the said Free Grammar School."[10]
The original Tudor building, known as Tudor Hall, was erected in 1577 opposite the Church of St John The Baptist on Wood Street, with money raised by the first governors of the school and by collections in London churches. It was repaired in 1597 and again in 1637. During the 17th century, further extensive repairs were carried out, in spite of a poor financial situation following the Civil War. Financial conditions became progressively more comfortable during the 18th century.[11]
The trustees of Elizabeth Allen’s Charity, which had been established by her will dated 10 February 1725, gave financial assistance to save it from a state "very ruinous and unfit for habitation".[12] It then became a private boarding school.[13] It was closed in 1872 and restored in 1874 with many additions. In 1885 a governor, H E Chetwynd Stapleton, bought a plot of land behind the Jesus Hospital, a building in Wood Street dating back to 1679; today the Stapylton field stands in front of the main School building and is used for rugby and cricket.[14] As the number of pupils outgrew the capacity of Tudor Hall, so the school was transferred in 1932 to a new site in Queen’s Road, which backed on to the Stapylton field. It was administered by the South Herts Division of Hertfordshire County Council, until 1965 when it became part of the borough of Barnet. In the 1960s, there were around 550 boys with 150 in the sixth form. Tudor Hall was completely restored in 1968 by the London Borough of Barnet, and is now part of Barnet College.[15]
It returned to its previous selective grammar school status in August 1994, due to opting out of the London borough and becoming a grant-maintained school in 1989. Other schools in London (outer London) did this, and many became partially-selective (up to 50%) at this time. In the 1990s it went on to become England's top state school for A-Levels.[16] The girls' school remained a comprehensive. The nearby Henrietta Barnett School is selective.
Since 1999, the Headmaster has been Dr John Marincowitz, who commissioned the new Martin swimming pool, opened in 2006, Shearly Hall, opened in 2009, and a digital library which is currently in construction. In 2011, Neil Enright became Headmaster.
After the school became selective again, many parents flocked to the school, and not just from the borough of Barnet. It was offering what many schools in London could not. One parent was Claudia Bracchitta, the wife of staunchly left-wing Jeremy Corbyn (who himself attended Adams' Grammar School in Shropshire). She wanted their son to go to the school and not a comprehensive, the Holloway School.[17] This led to the left-wing MP and his wife separating. They had been married for 12 years. She said I could not compromise my son's future for my husband's career.
Queen Elizabeth's School is divided into six houses, named after famous old boys, patrons and former teachers. They are Broughton, Harrisons', Leicester, Pearce, Stapylton and Underne.[18] There are many inter-house competitions, from rugby to creative writing. The inter-house debating tournaments, for all years, take place at the end of the year and are probably the most fiercely contested non-physical inter-house competition.
Rugby union, played during the Winter and Spring terms, is compulsory for boys in their first four years at the school, as are cross-country running and most other school sports, which include orienteering, swimming, basketball, tennis, cricket, Eton Fives and athletics.[19][20] QE is well known for not practising football in lessons or playing football competetively against other schools. A particularly boggy part of the cross-country route, suitably nicknamed the 'Elephant Dip', due to its depth, links Barnet Rugby Club and the north-west gate of the bottom fields. The best action to do at this length of mud is to run straight through the middle, splashing all those who try to skit round the dry sides.
There is much competition in the Summer term when frequent competitions between houses are held before the summer examinations begin in June, including the QE Sevens Tournament which takes place in the school for the U14's and U16's it is normally held at the end of the Spring Term.[21]
Boys usually choose four subjects which will be studied for both AS and A-level, although provision can be made for five to be taken. These subjects can only be chosen after receiving recommendations from that subject teacher. Entry to the Sixth Form is dependent on gaining enough such recommendations. All boys in the Sixth Form are made to wear a suit. One of the main focuses of sixth form is preparation for entry into higher education. As a result the school focuses on career advice, the UCAS application process, personal statements, finance and other things related to university entry. The school also encourages that students partake in a wide range of extra curricular actives both outside of and during school time, and students who do not take part in sport on Wednesday afternoons take up voluntary service in the community.
The Founder's Day Fête, and the preceding service of celebration at St John the Baptist's Church, Barnet, is the largest cultural event in the school calendar. Steeped in tradition, it is held every year, regardless of weather, on the third Saturday in June, and celebrates the founding of the school in 1573.[22][23]
All Year 7 boys must attend the church service. The governors also attend, as do most teachers, in academic dress. The head boys, past and present, are readers at the service, and the school choir sings. The boys then walk back to the school along Wood Street and prepare for the roll call on Staplyton Field. This is again compulsory for all of Year 7, with five boys from each house attending from all other senior years. In the past, this was compulsory for the whole school. The boys troop in from the two wings of the main building and form three lines stretching across the School Field. The boys of each house sit together, although traditionally they had to stand.
The Fête itself is attended by some three thousand people every year, and is a source of funds for the school.
QE Boys has formed a long-term successful partnership with a school in Kerala called the Shri Sathya Sai School, funded by the 'Sathya Sai Appeal'. In addition, the school has strong links with charities through the house system, and each house holds at least one event a year to generate funds for its associated charity.
In 2007, QE came first in the A-Level league table for state schools, and twelfth in the GCSE league table for state schools.[24][25] In 2008 QE again topped the league table in A-level results and a record number of 37 pupils gained a place in Oxbridge Universities.[26][27] In 2009 QE topped the league table in A-level results for the third consecutive year.
During the Second World War the famous athletics coach Franz Stampfl taught physical education at the school until his internment in 1940 as an enemy alien.[38] The future headmaster of Eton John Lewis briefly taught Latin in the early 1970s.
Parents of boys not admitted to the school have protested and appealed against the school's selective admissions policy. Some have come about because the prospective boy's parents have moved to the area assuming a place will be guaranteed, when this is not the case.[39] In addition there have been calls throughout the United Kingdom for the end of selective grammar schools in favour of selection by distance to school or lottery.[40] The school was also on a list of schools breaching admissions laws in England.[41]
Students and parents have been concerned by the school's other actions to keep up its position in academic league tables. Controversially, in the 1990s the school frequently gave leave-or-be-expelled ultimatums to boys in trouble, which were allegedly aimed at passing lower-performing students on to other schools without blemishing the school's own expulsion record. The school has been criticized for its attitude to Sixth Form admissions by many parents and commentators.[42] Students are only allowed to progress to the Sixth Form if subject teachers feel they will be capable of obtaining the highest grades, regardless of performance in other subjects or participation extracurricular life of the school. This has led to the accusation that the school has been putting their position in league tables above the interests of pupils.